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Have Apple's iPhone and iPad hit a wall?

Negative comments offered by chip supplier TSMC suggest a slowdown in demand for Apple's key mobile products.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
Expertise Mobile, 5G, Big Tech, Social Media Credentials
  • SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
Roger Cheng
25-iphone-8-and-iphone-8-plus-productred-special-edition-2018

The iPhone X and its new Product Red case. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

One of Apple's key suppliers is calling for a rough next few months. 

TSMC, the Taiwanese semiconductor giant responsible for building the chips that go into Apple's iPhones and iPads , warned that its upcoming second quarter would be worse than expected due to "continued weak demand from our mobile sector." That's in spite of the fact that there's an uptick on demand for more powerful chips for cryptocurrency mining

Investors tied those comments back to Apple, whose stock is down 2.3 percent to $173.76 on the negative sentiment. 

There's been continued questions over the demand of Apple's latest iPhones, which emerge at a time when the overall smartphone market appears to be peaking. In particular are questions over the $1,000 iPhone X, although Apple has maintained that it remains the best-selling iPhone in its lineup.

An Apple spokeswoman wasn't immediately available for comment. 

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